Night Raiders

The following is an excerpt from the journal of Lieutenant Benjamin Jarvis, a British soldier in the mid-seventeenth century. These events, and those that will follow, lead directly to The Land of Look Behind; available everywhere February 9, 2016.

Andrew is dead. He never got off the ships, never set foot on this island, never drew a breath of the fresh ocean breeze. He died in his bed. Words cannot express the unspeakable sadness I feel. I would not have come this far without his companionship. He was a boon to my soul and I looked to him for strength beyond my own.

I have not even had the time to properly grieve his passing as we were set upon by the cowardice mountain rebels the eve I received word of Andrew’s death. Like thieves in the night they descended on the town while we slept. So swift was their attack that the night watchmen failed to raise a proper alarm. They burned the officer’s quarters and the estate where many of the soldiers slept. The commotion roused me from my sleep and through the window I could see the town ablaze. We labored through the night to extinguish the flames and with our forces occupied those bandits made off with much of our supplies and animals.

I curse the very winds that carried us to this wretched place and would give anything to be free of it. Many of the prisoners will be put on a ship for the nearest Spanish port tomorrow, I pray that I be sent to oversee their deportation and put these nightmarish days behind me.